Who's using a Child Seat in their e30?

[e30davie]

The idea that as soon as you have kids you must immediately purchase 2 tonnes of mini van or SUV is a bit warped.

You've gotta keep up with the Jone's though. Look how big their car is!

[lukeADE335i]

Lol... indeed.

My kids love it in the e30 & and point out any others they see while we're driving around. They call it Dad's race car (as admittedly the exhaust is pretty loud in the back).

I used to have them in booster seats when they were small & they worked fine, but thankfully both are now big enough to not require them. The good thing about the e30 is the seat is much smaller / less deep than most modern cars, so they can get out of their booster seats earlier - we still use a booster for one of them in my wife's Hyundai because the seat is much deeper & more sculpted so the seatbelt still doesn't fit them properly. No such problems in the e30.

The idea that as soon as you have kids you must immediately purchase 2 tonnes of mini van or SUV is a bit warped. The school run is pretty funny in the e30 surrounded by the hordes of SUVs - the top of my roof is lower than the glasshouse on many of them these days so I have to have my wits about me so that I don't get hit by anyone.

[e30davie]

I just think we owners need a quiet place to relax and focus on the interaction between man, machine and road.

Children have their place, but until they can fully understand what's going on in the car and how a classic car varies from other vehicles, they should just stay home with the wife.

just my .02 cents

This is such a weird thing to say.

We've got a 4month old, first child. We haven't put the carseat in my e30 yet as the wifes subaru forester gets used for baby and family travel duties (and we only have 1 car seat). Also there's alot of crap that goes along with a 4 month old, baby bags, prams all that jazz which i don't think would fit too easily in the e30 coupe. It probably would fit but the wife likes the forester as a passenger anyway.

Once he gets a bit older and i start helping with the school runs etc im sure our little fella will enjoy going in "dads old car". Or you know drop over to the grand parents house and take the e30 for a run.

Was the same with my dad's work car back in the day, it was almost a bit of a fun adventure to be taken to school in dads work car.

[nando]

I just think we owners need a quiet place to relax and focus on the interaction between man, machine and road.

Children have their place, but until they can fully understand what's going on in the car and how a classic car varies from other vehicles, they should just stay home with the wife.

just my .02 cents

Clearly, you dont have kids.

[mike.bmw]

I just think we owners need a quiet place to relax and focus on the interaction between man, machine and road.

Children have their place, but until they can fully understand what's going on in the car and how a classic car varies from other vehicles, they should just stay home with the wife.

just my .02 cents

That's certainly one opinion. As a father of two, I enjoy spending time in my E30 AND spending time with my kids. When I have the opportunity to combine the two, it's a win-win situation for me. Certainly not for everyone, but it works for me.

My kids love going to cars and coffee events and I love taking them. And, no, I'm not one of those parents that lets my kids run around and touch all the cars. They know they need to stand next to me, behave, and not touch ANYTHING while they're there or they won't be coming back.

I also love autocross and HPDE events. That's not something I'd even think about taking my kids to, unless they were licensed drivers, which they won't be for a long time.

At any rate, this thread isn't about "SHOULD I transport children in my E30?". It's about car seats and how to properly install them. Hence my post about E30 seat belt types and what is needed to install a car seat properly.

You're welcome. ;D

[Stanley Rockafella]

I just think we owners need a quiet place to relax and focus on the interaction between man, machine and road.

Children have their place, but until they can fully understand what's going on in the car and how a classic car varies from other vehicles, they should just stay home with the wife.

just my .02 cents

[2mAn]

Babies don't belong in e30's
That's what minivans and SUV's are for

I disagree. Eventually when we have some babies they will love to ride in daddies car because it will be a rollercoaster everywhere we go. Mommies SUV will be like the school bus.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Babies don't belong in e30's
That's what minivans and SUV's are for

[mike.bmw]

Thread revival!

The E30s have ELR type retractors (Emergency Locking Retractors). This means that they will lock when yanked, but they won't ratchet/lock if you pull them ALL the way out and slowly feed them back in. You'll need a locking clip to make this a safe install:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2QKoVaHJAM

https://csftl.org/when-to-use-a-locking-clip/

[cramer]

MatRacer- You need one of these "locks" to use a child seat in an E30

[itsonlygeorge]

Holy zombie thread!


Sent from th

[nando]

Well, there you go. that's how they work.

[MatRacer]

Yeah, they lock if I yank on it, but not when fully extended, like my other cars...

[nando]

I specifically remember the belts in my sedan didn't lock either. Odd.

That said, I can't speak for other seats, but our Recaros actually clamp the shoulder strap to keep things from loosening up, negating the ratchet effect.

I'm pretty sure they all lock - they have to, or the shoulder belt would be useless. you just have to yank on them.

What I would usually do is pull out a specific amount of belt, yank on it to lock, and then buckle it down. getting the right amount of slack is the tough part, because you want it tight but you also want to be able to get it latched. as long as it was tight, it would stay locked.

I used to do the same thing up front for Autox, when I didn't have a better restraint mechanism. Kept me from sliding around in the seat. :p

These days my kids are in booster seats so it's no big deal, just put them on like regular seat belts.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Yeah, sorry for forgetting. Truth is, I pulled the M3 from my storage locker and put a two day permit on it..................and...........I haven't stopped driving it.:)

I will post a pic tonight of where it's located.

I absolutely love those permits. I don't keep tags on my Miata, but every once in a while I print out a 5 dollar transport tag and go for a joyride.

Shit, did I say that out loud?